Scharf, J. Thomas, ed. History of Westchester County, New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I. Philadelphia: L.E. Preston & Co., 1886.

The County of j Westchester, in her rural contentment, as has been seen in other portions of this narrative, had contin- j ued, during the entire period of that earlier revolutionary era, in the City of New York, to enjoy peace and good-will among her inhabitants ; but the Meeting at the White Plains, on the eleventh of April, I Pnctedingt of tha Committee of One hundred …

The first of these acts of terrorism, exercised by the rampant revolutionary elements in Westchestercounty, was that in the case of Jonathan Fowler and George Cornwell, two respectable residents of the County, both of whom had signed the Declaraiion and Protest, at the White Plains, on the eleventh of April, as well as the Eesolves which were referred to, in that Declaration …

" "\TTE tlie subscribers do hereby make this YV public Declaration, That whereas we " and several others in Westchester-County, having " signed a certain Number of Resolves, which at the " Time of our said signing, we deemed Constitutional, " and as having a Tendency to promote the Interest "of our Country; but since, upon mature Delibera- " tion, and more full Knowledge of …

The second of those acts of terrorism, to which reference has been made, was that in the case of Isaac ^Vilkins, that leading Member of the General Assembly of the ColoTiy, in its contest with the Home Government; that very able "A. W. Farmer " who, with his pen, had aroused so much indignation ; and that spokesman of the protestants, at the Meeting at the White Plains, with …

God is my judge, " and God is my witness, that all I have done, written, " or said, in relation to the present unnatural dispute "between Great Britain and her Colonies, proceeded '■' froni an honest intention of serving my country. " Her welfare and prosperity were the objects towards •" which all my endeavours have been directed. They "are still the sacred objects which I …

" New York, "May 3,1775." While these unwelcome features of the jjolitical movements, in Westchester-county, were extending over the entire community, Lewis Morris was busily employed, after his seat in the forthcoming Congress of the Colonies had been secured beyond a peradventure, in an attempt to belittle the Declaration and Protest of those, at the White Plains, who had …

"By whom this performance was given to the pub- " lie, is uncertain, and being as little distinguished by "decency as by truth, there is reason to suspect, the " author's name will remain a secret. " The falsities contained in this representation, are " too flagrant to impose upon any person in this col- " ony, and nothing but the apprehension of its gain- " ing credit in …

" To give the appearance of dignity to these curious " and very orderly protestors, the author has been " very mindful to annex every man's addition to his " name, upon a presumption perhaps that it would " derive weight from the title of Mayor, Esquire, Cap- " tain. Lieutenant, Judge, &c. " But it is not easy to conceive why the publisher " should be less civil to the Clergy …

' ' Samuel Seabury, ' ' Luke Babcock, ' ' Benjamin Fowler, Esq. ' ' Joshua Pell, ' ' Edward Pell, ' ' John Hunt, ' ' Gilbert Horton, ' ' Adrian Leforge, ' ' Moses Williams, ' • Philip Kelley, ' ' James Haius, jun. ' ' .Matthew Haias, ' ' Bartholomew Hains, ' ' John Haius, ' ' Elijah Hains, ' ' Joseph Clark, ' ' Joseph Oakly, ' ' James Mott, ' ' Daniel Purdy, ' ' John Crab, ' ' …

Timothy Purdy, James M'Guire, James Regnaw, Samuel Purdy, Sylvanus Purdy, AVilliam Dalton, Elijah Tomkins, Charles Lawrence, Joshua Purdy, junr. James Snitfen, junr. Peter Bonet, Peter Fashee, Jesse Lawrence, AVilliam Sniden, Solomon Dean, Thomas Hiat, ■William Woodward, John Whitmore, William Underbill, Nehemiah Tomkins, Henry Lefovge, F.vert Brown, Benjamin Beyea, John …

' Jesse Park, ' Roger Purdy, jun. ' Gilbert Pugsley, ' Abraham Lediau, ' Benjamin Brown, ' Aaron Buis, ' John Baizley, ' David Oakley, jun. ' Isaac Smith, ' John Hyatt, ' Abraham Odell, ' Thomas Lawrence, ' John Seyson, ' ' Isaac Forsheu, ' Gabriel Requeaw, ' Gabriel Archer, ' ' Elias Secord, ' ' James Peirce, ' ' Edward Bugbe, ' ' Daniel Haight, ' ' John Hunt, junr. ' ' …

William Barker, junr. Gideon Arden, Joshua Purdy, George Storm, Jacob Vermiller, Samuel Heusted, John Warner, John Storm, Joshua Secord, John Underbill, William Underbill, junr. James Hill, AVilliam Watkins, Richard Baker, Bishop Ileustice, Jeremiah Hitchcock, William Bond, Samuel Sneden, Joshua Ferriss.' " Of the others who are Freeholders, many also " hold lands at will of …

I This notable paper, except the list of names, was published in Kivingl-'u'4 X'-ir- York Oazelleer, No. 108, Xew-York, Thursilay, May 11, 1775 : and the names were published in the next numtwr of that paper -- Xo. 109, Xew-Yobk, Thursday, May 18, 1775 ; the text of the article was published in Maine's .Veir- York Gazelle : u>i<l the Weekly Mercury, Xo. 1231, Xew-Yobk, Monday …

The author of the latter was very profuse in his very general charge of "falsities contained in this representation;" but he failed to specify, even a single instance in which the former had presented an untruth ; and every one will perceive that he did not except, from the general impeachment, even those portions of the Declaration and Protest which agreed, in their recital …

He impeached the bona Jide of the " enthusiasm " of the protestants, at the Plains ; but he " confessed," and only those who are guilty •'confess," that his own companions, those who had given the much coveted place and authority to him, were also noisy, from the effects of otlier Spirits than that of loyalty to the King -- inasmuch as each of the two factions, at the Plains …

jected, also, that the titles of those who had signed the Declaration and Protest were appended to the names of those to whom they respectively belonged ; but a reference to the official report of the proceedings of that Meeting, signed by himself and evidently from his own pen, to which reference has been made, will show to any one that the specific titles of " Mr. , " " …

Most of all, he disregarded the fact that the Declaration and Protest, to which he assumed to make a reply, had made no pretension to having been made exclusively by " Free- " holders," but, on the contrary, it was thus headed : " We the subscribers, freeholders and inhabitants of "the county of Westchester, having assembled at the " White Plains, in consequence of certain …

Philips; " but he conveniently forgot to tell how a mere tenant at will could, thereby, become a Freeholder, or how many, in the Manor of Cortlandt, who were only tenants or who held lands at the will of the Proprietors of that Manor, had been induced by other causes than loyalty to those Proprietors or discontent with the General Assembly, to go to the White Plains, to assist …

respect, as was that of Colonel Lewis Morris or that of any other member of that unpopular family ; and his practises, in private and in public life, against which not even a Morris, in his bitterest mood, could say a word of open disrespect, merited no such fling from the office-seeking head of the small, new-born revolutionary faction, then in Westchester-county -- from one …

" rphat our names were not subscribed to the 1 " protest of West-Chester, either by our- " selves, or our orders or permission, directly or indi- " rectly, is certified by us, each for himself " Peter Bussing. "Peter Bussing, jun. " May 4, 1775." "Mr. Rivington, " I Did sign a protest, which was printed in your " paper ; but I did so, because I was told that the in- " tent of …

Any one who is acquainted with the habits of printers, in " making ".up " the forms of a newspaper, for the press, will understand, from the places which these three Cards, and the reply of Lewis Morris to the Declaration aitd Protest (omitting the names), and the proceedings of the Meeting at the White Plains -- five distinct articles relating to Westchester-county-- occupy …

With these four publications -- the reply to the Dcclaration and Protest and the three Cards of recantation-- as far as Westchester-county was concerned, the literature of the first Provincial Convention of the Colony of New York ended -- and, as every farmer had returned to his rural home, at the close of the eventful eleventh of April, and had resumed his work, the necessary …

Reference has been made to the action of the Committee of Inspection, in the City of New York, on the twenty-sixth of April, providing for its own dissolution ; for the election of a new Committee of one hundred, to occupy its place, in that City ; and for the organization of a Provincial Congress, with general authority for the government of the entire Colony.' For the …

"Most of the Deputies who composed the late " Provincial Congress, held in this City, were only "vested with powers to chose Delegates to represent " the Province at the next Continental Congress, " and the Convention having executed that trust " dissolved themselves : It is therefore thought "adviseable by this Committee, that a Provincial "Congress be immediately summoned to …

We there- " fore entreat your County heartily to unite in the " choice of proper persons to represent them at a " Provincial Congress to be held in this City on the " 22d of May next. -- Twenty Deputies are proposed " for this City, and in order to give the greater weight " and influence to the councils of the Congress, we " could wish the number of Deputies from the …

As there was not, at that time, any Committee, within the County of Westchester, unto whom that Circular Letter could be sent, it was probably sent, as that relating to the proposed Provincial Convention had been sent, to some prominent resident of that County, most convenient to the Chairman of the Committee of the City, for circulation in the several Towns, throughout the …

No pretensions were made, in the official report of the Meeting or elsewhere, that the attendance was large: on the contrary, it is very probable that not more than two dozens were present. Whatever the number may have been, it assumed to be the representative of all who were, then, within the County, of every condition in life ; and, in the name and in behalf of all those who …

There were only twenty-three of the ninety who had been named for the Committee, present and acting on the subject which had been referred to it; but it was not slow in nominating, " to represent the said "County in Provincial Convention," Gouverneur Morris, Doctor Robert Graham, Colonel Lewis Graham, and Colonel James Van Cortlandt, all of them from the Borough Town of …

3 The Associalimi, which was thus "signed by the Committee" -- if any others than Slembers of the Committee had been present, they also would have signed it -- was not that Association which the Continental Congress had decreed and promulgated, in the preceding October, but another and entirely different affair, which had been drawn up by James Duane, John Jay, and Peter Van …

PERSUADED that the salvation of the right* and liberties of -L "America, depends, under God, on the firm union of its in- " habitants, in a vigorous prosecution of the measures necessary for its " safety, and convinced of the necessity of preventing the anarchy and " confusion which attend a dissolution of the powere of government ; "we, the freemen, freeholders, and …

"Dated in New-York, Apnl and May, 1775." This Association, w ith some slight changes, was re-printe<l (without any THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783. and after thai had been done, the Meeting was adjourned.' The official report of the proceedings of the Meeting does not give the names of any of the ninety persons who were said to have been chosen as a "Cora- " niittee for the …

It will be evident to the reader that, until the appointment of the "Committee for the County of West- " Chester," by the Meeting which was held at the White Plains, on the eighth of May, 1775, as has been already stated, there had not been even the slightest appearance of any central organization, for political purposes, within the County ; that, until they were crowded into …

• This statement if the proceedings of the Meeting at which a Deputation vyas chosen to represent Westchester-county, in the first Provincial Congress, is made on the authority of the oQicial report of that Ileeting, signed by " James Vas Cortlandt, Chairman for the Day," and pub. lished in Rivington's New- York Gazetteer, No. 1()8, New- York, Thursday, May 11, 1775 ; and on …

did not constitute even a respectable minority of those who were heads of families and householders, throughout the County.* It will be seen, also, that the Morris family, strengthened by itsalliance with its kindred family of Graham, had fully entrenched itself, as the political head of the County ; and it will be particularly noticed of what kind of material Delegiites were …

If a mere handful of the inhabitants of the County, who neither possessed nor claimed to possess any legal qualifications whatever to do such an act ; who did not act nor claim to act under the guidance of any thing excejJt its own unrighteous imjjulses ; and who neither possessed nor claimed to possess even a shadow of delegated authority from any one, within or without the …

Of the remaining forty-nine, one rose no higher than a place in the Committee of hia Town ; six were satisfied with only places on the Committee of the County, in whom, however, great power in local mutters was vested, and by whom much money was disbursed for the support of prisoners of war quartered in their vicinities ; one aspired to both the Town and County Committees, and …

Even the Secretary of the first County Committee looked out for the profits of otiicial station, and secured, through his associations, some of the fat things of place -- Micah Townsend, the Clerk of the first County -Committee, secured the command of a Comimny of Colonial Trooi>s, early in 177i> ; and lie was, in other respects, well provided for, during that era of distress …

abreast of the most advanced of the anarchists of that period ; and if, without a semblance of that "consent" of which so much had been said and written, as a prerequisite to any change of government -- without, also, any of those qualifications in itself and authorities from others, of which mention has been made -- the same handful of new-born revolutionists, at the same …

With those partisan catchwords and political maxims which, a very short time previously, had filled the air with their noisiness, before the reader, he will readily determine how much of even revolutionary consistency and propriety and integrity there was in those doings which are now under consideration ; but, among such as those by whom those doings were inaugurated and …

with the tinsel which was not what it seemed to be, was secretly perfecting the juggle which was intended to deceive all others than those who were participants in the performance and sharers in the profits to be derived from it, -- neither consistency nor propriety nor integrity was regarded or even thought of, the cupidity of the end entirely justified the unrighteousness of …

The careful reader will not have failed to see, in what hiis been written in this narrative and in the testimony which has been adduced to sustain it, the stern fact that, as far as the Colony of New York was concerned, and we write of no other Colony, the opposition to the measures of the Home Goverment, from 1763 until the Spring of 1775, which, subsequently, became more …

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783. 2G1 Empire, and to enforce on each of those Merchants, in his individual business, that obedience to the Laws which would be no more than his reasonable duty, while it would also tend to the suppression of that corruption of the local Revenue-officers and of that general practise of Smuggling from which he was so complacently acquiring …

In fact, while the aristocracy of the Colony was thus confederating and consolidating discordant elements and plotting and breeding disaffection to the Mother Country, the unfranchised Mechanics and Working-men, residents of the City and toilers for their daily bread, with occasional exceptions, pursued their respective industrial vocations, peacefully and industriously …

It is, indeed, true, in this connection, that the aristocratic Merchants and Ship-owners, in the City of New York, had been, during many years, more or less reasonably aggrieved by reason of the governmental interference with their well-established and very profitable "illicit trade," to which reference has been made: it is also true that, for the purpose of influencing and …

called, was deceptive ; dnd, particularly, in the lastmentioned of the two means employed, as hazardous as it was fraudulent -- but it is also true that, while the maxims and the teachings of the fundamental law which they so freely bandied, were only words of convenience, meaning nothing beyond the end for securing which they had been thus employed, their auxiliaries, thus …

As we have said, also, the elaborate essays on the "Rights of Man and of Englishmen," on the " consent " which was necessary in order to give validity to Laws, and, generally, on the assjimed grievances to which the Colonists had been subjected, all of them the productions of well-paid Counsel or other interested writers, with which the newspapers of that period were filled to …

abreast of the most advanced of the anarchists of that period ; and if, without a semblance of that "consent" of which so much had been said and written, as a prerequisite to any changeofgovernment-- without, also, any of those qualifications in itself and authorities from others, of which mention has been made -- the same handful of new-born revolutionists, at the same time …

With those partisan catchwords and political maxims which, a very short time previously, had filled the air with their noisiness, before the reader, he will readily determine how much of even revolutionary consistency and propriety and integrity there was in those doings which are now under consideration ; but, among such as those by whom those doings were inaugurated and …

with the tinsel which was not what it seemed to be, was secretly perfecting the juggle which was intended to deceive all others than those who were participants in the performance and sharers in the profits to be derived from it, -- neither consistency nor propriety nor integrity was regarded or even thought of, the cupidity of the end entirely justified the unrighteousness of …

The careful reader will not have failed to see, in what has been written in this narrative and in the testimony which has been adduced to sustain it, the stern fact that, as far as the Colony of New York was concerned, and we write of no other Colony, the opposition to the measures of the Home Goverment, from 17(i3 until the Spring of 1775, which, subsequently, became more …

THE AMEKICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783. Empire, and to enforce on each of those Merchants, in his individual business, that obedience to the Laws which would be no more than his reasonable duty, while it would also tend to the suppression of that corruption of the local Revenue- officers and of that general practise of Smuggling from which he was so complacently acquiring wealth …

In fact, while the aristocracy of the Colony was thus confederating and consolidating discordant elements and plotting and breeding disaffection to the Mother Country, the unfranchised Mechanics and Working-men, residents of the City and toilers for their daily bread, with occasional exceptions, pursued their respective industrial vocations, peacefully and industriously …

It is, indeed, true, in this connection, that the aristocratic Merchants and Ship-owners, in the City of New York, had been, during many years, more or less reasonably aggrieved by reason of the governmental interference with their well-established and very profitable "illicit trade," to which reference has been made : it is also true that, for the purpose of influencing and …

called, was deceptive; slnd, particularly, in the lastmentioned of the two means employed, as hazardous as it was fraudulent -- but it is also true that, while the maxims and the teachings of the fundamental law which they so freely bandied, were only words of convenience, meaning nothing beyond the end for securing which they had been thus employed, their auxiliaries, thus …

As we have said, also, the elaborate essays on the "Rights of Man and of Englishmen," on the "consent" which was necessary' in order to give validity to Laws, and, generally, on the assjimed grievances to which the Colonists had been subjected, all of them the productions of well-paid Counsel or other interested writers, with which the newspapers of that period were filled to …

-- were no more than additional instrumentalities in the hands of wealthy and unprincipled lawbreakers, Snuigglers, employed for the purpose of sheltering those aristocratic culprits from the penalties which the Revenue-laws had imposed on them and, if possible, of enabling them to continue, with impunity, those flagrant violations of morality and of Law which men of less …

The careful reader will not have failed to see, also, in what has been written in this narrative and in the testimony which has been adduced to sustain it, that, while honesty and integrity and humanity and patriotism formed no portion of the motives which led the aristocratic Smugglers, in the City of New York, to inaugurate and to sustain a general disatiection against the …

had employed for the intimidation of the Home Government and by their own persistent selfishness, gradually produced a new and powerful political element, adverse to their own pretensions to exclusiveness, to which they had been, previously, strangers. Their want of abilities, as navigators on the troubled waters of Colonial politics, was painfully evident to all others than …

The outlay of wealth can generally secure ingenious advocates for any cause, no matter how unsavory it may be ; and, in that of the confederated aristocratic Smugglers of the City of New York, of which mention has been made, well-paid Counsel and ready writers for the newspapers, in their eagerness to support their wealthy and liberal connections and clients, in their …

THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, 1774-1783. that long period, presumed to have asserted, tor themselves, their own manhood, and to have claimed, for themselves, those Rights which had been speciously conceded as having properly belonged to them as much as to any others. In the progress of events, however, either on their own motion or on that of their ambitious leaders-- the latter …

As we have already intimated, the confederated aristocracy of New York witnessed the appearance of that new element in the politics of the Colony, with anxiety and alarm ; and it evidently noticed, also, the constituent parts of it, and duly measured its probable strength, and judiciously determined that, in opposing it, "art" would be better suited to ensure success ; than …

Indeed, the high-toned " Gentlemen in Trade," guided by their acute legal and political advisers, John Jay and James Duane, determined to continue the same system of contemptuous deceit and treachery which had characterized all their previous political intercourse with the Working-men of the Colony ; and, in doing so, they very clearly indicated, a second time, how …

were notMerchants, but Lawyers -- was really intended quite as much for the adoption of measures which should practically rebuke the evidently growing sense of their own political power which has been recently seen arising among the Working-men and the lowly, throughout the City, if for nothing else, as for the adoption of measures in further opposition to the Home Government …

It was not long, however, before that fraudulent treatment of the Working-men produced " the " great Meeting in the Fields," and the dissolution of that incongruous alliance, and the resumption of the antagonism of the masses ; and it was not long, also, before the confederation of the aristocracy itself, within as well as without the Committee of Fifty-one, was broken by the …

There was no abatement of the previously united opposition to the demands of the Working-men, however; and in each of the new-formed factions of the confederated aristocratic Opposition to the Home Government and in all which they or either of them did, there was the same entire disregard of the political rights of the Working-men, then without leaders, which had been s!) …

He will remember, also, what has been said of the various movements and counter-movements of the rival factions, after the defeat of the Committee's candidates ; of the treachery to the Committee who had nominated them and to their aristocratic associates, of four of the five candidates of the Committee; of the consequent election of those five candidates, in the absence of …

He will remember, also, what has been stated concerning the General Assembly of the Colony ; its organization ; its bold and determined opposition to the obnoxious Colonial policy of the Home Government ; its sturdy refusal to become auxiliary to or identified with the Continental Congress, notwithstanding it was not less determined in its opposition to the Ministry ; its …

It will, also, be remembered that, during a long period of years, one of those powerful families and its friends had occupied all or nearly all the high places in the Colonial Government, and had dispensed the extensive patronage of that Government and disposed of its valuable emoluments among those who were known to have been the friends and adherents of the family, agreeably …

When the Home Government, eager to reduce the heavy land-tax to which the country gentlemen of England had been subjected by reason of the demands of that Government, in its vigorous prosecution of the War with France and Spain, first tightened the lines of those who administered the Customs, in the Colonies, and thereby seriously interfered with the smuggling in which every …

At the time of whieh we write, the threatened danger from t he working classes ai»i)eared to have heen averted ; the Committee of Fifty-one, or those who had remained in it after the treachery of those who had used It for a ste])|)ing-st<)ne to something of greater inriuenee, had slowly retired from the field of political action antl had been dissolved by its own action; the …

A Delegation of twelve had been elected, by a Convention which had been convened for that purpose, to represent the Colony in a second Congress of the Colonies ; and of that Delegation, two were Livingstons, two were of those who had married Livingstons, and two others were a.ssured and well-tried supporters of the Livingston interest. The excitement which was occasioned by …

I of the Provinces of Ma.ssachusetts-Bay and New I Hanii)shire and the Colonies of Connecticut and ' Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in North America, with Great Britain, Ireland, and the Mritish Islands in the West Indies; and to prohibit such Provinces and Colonies from carrying on any Fishery on the Banks of Newfoundland or other places therein mentioned, under …

The disturbance of Trade which was consequent on the political differences, had already i)rodnced great distress, in Great Britain, among those whose lives and labors and properties were employed in the manufacture of goods si)ecifically intended for tiie American market; and, at the same time, the Merchants, in that country, and those who had given credits, commercial or …

In New York, at the time of which we write, as far as the great body of the Colonists in the rural Counties were concerned, there does not appear to have been any noticeable change -- the farmers had not been disturbed in their labors, during 1774; and the surplus of their ])roductions, which had found early markets, had undoubtedly been disposed of at those better than …

The Sclu dnles of (ioods tlins shipped afford amnsin^ evidence of what were oflicially eonsidered a^ Army StoreH ; tliey clearly show, also, the relative weight of morality and immorality, whenever the profits of trade are considered, and how Ta.-itly more the Profit ami Iaisb .Vccounis, on their respei tivc LeilKerw, will influence the morals and the religion anil the doings …

sion of the foreign trade, by the experimental action of the first Continental Congress, must have been as disastrous to the great body of the inliabitants -- those possessing small Estates as well as the Tradesmen and Mechanics and Workingmen, of every lowly class -- as that much writteu-of Port Bill, imposed by the retributive action of the King and the Parliament of Great …

The suspension of their business, by the aristocracy of America, who could sustain the present strain in order to ensure the receipt of an ultimate advantage, was, we say, no less severe in New York than the similar suspension of her business, by the aristocracy of (treat Britain, had been in Boston; and thesufferngs of of the working classes were, undoubtedly, quite as keenly …

The "determination" of the Continental Congress of 1774, to appoint Committees "in every County, " City, and Town," " whose business it should be at- " tentively to observe the conduct of all persons, " touching the Association " which that Congress also enacted, and with extraordinary powers for persecuting and bringing ruin on whomsoever those local Committees should …

But, notwithstanding all these, the great body of the inhabitants of the County was entirely undisturbed ; the labors <;f the day had been done, as they had previou.sly been done, on the hundreds of homesteads, throughout the County ; political questions in which they felt no interest had not slackened the domestic or the out-door industries nor lessened the holiday or evening …

K C'ununitlce has been chosen in every "County, whose business it is to carry the Aiisttcuitiint tii the Congress " into execution ; which C'oiuniittee assumes an authority to inspect the "books, invoices, and all other secrets of the trade and correspondence " of Merchants; to watch the coniiuct of every Inhabitant, without dis- " tiuction ; and to send for all such as come …

being disturbed, by any one; and James De I^ancey, who had been the Shcrifr of tiie County, since June, 177(1, and David Dayton, who had been tlie Surrogate, since June, 17li(), and Jolin Bartow, who had been the Clerk of the County, since April, 17()0, each in his appointed official place, continued to discharge the official duties which were incumbent on them, and to receive …

It was composed of only a series of conclaves, each of which exercised, arbitrarily, Legislative, Executive, and Judicial functions, unrestrained by either constitutional or statutory provisions, and controlled, in whatever it determined to do or not to do, only by the individual impulses of such, within this Colony, as the Livingstons and the Morrises, the Van Cortlandts and …

The Congress of the Continent assembled at Philadelphia, agreeably to order, on Wednesday, the tenth of May, 177;"); and, ten Colonies being represented -- only three of the Delegates from New York having been present, that Colony was not counted -- -it was formally organized by the election of Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, as its President, aiul Charles Tiiomson, of ■ It was …

Thti barbarities wbieli were ofticially inllicted on iuilivi<lnuls anil families, in many instances only for an ujiiuiim extorted by tbeir iK-rsecntors, witlii>ut an overt aet or tbe inclination to commit one, as tliose barbarities have iM'en ollicially recorded, were jH^rfectly shocking; ; and some of those which were intllcted on residents of Westchester-eonnty, under the …

On the latter day, [Tucsdai/, Ma;/ 23, 177-'),] those Deputies who were then }>resent assembled at the Exchange, " the Deputies of a majority of the Counties " having appeared; and a "Provincial Congress for the " Colony of New-York " was organized by the election of Peter Van Brugh Livingston -- one of the most violent of the former " Committee of Corres()ondence," a brother …

As has been already stated, the local Committee for Westchester-county was created on the eighth ol'May, 1775, ninety members having been miraculously created out of the material of which twenty-three were actually comjiosed ; and (iilbert Drake was made its Chairman.^ Micah Towiisend, subseiiuently holding other offices of Iioihu', in both Westchester and Cumberland-counties …

The organization of the Provincial Congress, on the twenty-third of May, 1775, has been already mentioned and described : ' a more particular description of the membership of that body which, in the interest of those who were in rebellion, was to take places beside the several departments of the legally constituted Colonial (fovernment, in the government of tlie Colony, and …

From such widely dissimilar constituencies, in town and country, therefore, even from those who were not widely separated and differently situated, there could not be expected Delegations to the Provincial Congress who were homogeneous in their characters and dispositions and inclinations; and as all those rural Delegations ])Ossessed more or less of the elements which …

Home Government was said to have subjected it ; but, at the same time, their inclinations were peaceful; and they preferred a reconciliation with Great Britain, instead of a Civil War, which had been already commenced ; and, because they had not yet been corrupted by the social influences of life in the City nor by the allurements of official plunder, they were ready to join …

The individual mend)ers of the first Provincial Congress of New York, at theojjcning and during the earlier period of the existence of that body, niay, therefore, be classed as, firt^t, the avowed Conservatives, who were led by such as John De Lancey and Benjamin Kissam and Abraham Walton and Richard Yates and George Folliot and Walter Franklin ; as, sccoml, the " Corporal's …

As the several Delegations voted as units, the votes of the several Counties having been cast in accordance with the d(!ternnnation of the majority of the Delegates of each who were then present, the votes of individual Delegates, unless in instances of formal dissent, are not recorded ; but tlie conservatism of the organized Congress, as an aggregate, was seen, immediately …

2.Sce liis letter to Mr. Penn, pages 187, 188, ante. THI<: AMKRK^AN REVOLUTION, 1774-1788. "Resolvkd, As the opinion of this Congress, that im- " Illicit ohedience ought to he paid to every reeoni- " nienilation of the Continental C/ongress, for tiie gen- " eral regulation of the associated Colonies; but this " Congress is conijietent to and ought, freely, to de- " liberate …

Tiie signal rebuke which the not yet corrupted "country gentlemen," members of the Provincial Congress of New York, had thus given to those who had pro|)o.sed to make the Colony of New York and all which it possessed subject, in all its relations, except in the local [)ower of police, to a foreign body over whom neither the individual Colonists nor the aggregated Colony could …

This vote also all'orils a li'Siuin of tlie gri ati st si;;niru ance, illustnitive of tlio eflu);!s of that ill-consiilere<l policy of nniforniity in political opinions, enforceil liy a military [Hjwer, which the Provincial Connresn, in it." later anil more corrupt ilayd, ailopteil anil enforceil -- hy the ailoption unil enforcement of such an extremely violent policy …

As the Colony of New York had not yet given that l)ublic testimony of its entire and cordial accession to the confederacy of the revolted Colonies which had been given to it by the other Colonies, in the express approbation, by each, of the proceedings of the Continental Congress of 1774, of which proceedings detailed mention has been made in other jiortions of this narrative …

Rut, as we are informed, "debates arose on " the said motion " -- there were grave questions, at that time, concerning the propriety of such an approval of all the jiroceedings of that first Congress, as was projiosed by the leaders of the ultra-revolutionists--and the rural Delegations again determined on the side of j)eace and reconciliation and Ctdonial iiide|)endence from …

tionarj' faction, represented by John Morin Scott and Thomas Smith ; but, whatever may have led to the practical rejection of those two propositions, each of which tended toward the centralization of the entire authority and all the power of the several Colonies, iu the Congress of the Continent, thereby destroying the autonomy of each of the Colonies, without subjecting that …

In short, from the beginning, the Provincial Congress of New York recognized no sui)erior, controlling power, except that of its own actual constituents ; and, at no subse- (juent i)eriod -- not even when the Governor of New York declined the release of Alexander McLeod, though demanded by both the Government of Great Britain and the President of the United States -- has …

of the Session of that revolutionary body, during the same afternoon, a motion was made by Alexander McDougal, a Presbyterian, providing for the appointment of a Committee of two, to apply to all the Ministers in the City who could pray in English, "to " make such an arrangement among themselves as "would enable them alternately to open the Congress, "every morning, with …

On Friday, the twenty-sixth of IMay, the Provincial Congress adopted, unanimously, a Resolution, offered by Gilbert Living.ston of Duchesscounty and seconded by John De Lancey of New York City, providing for the appointment of a Committee of one from each County, "to draw "up and report a proper Resolve of this Con- "gress, recommending to the different Counties "in this …

The Resolution which was thus reported, was in these words: "Resolved: That it be recommended, " and it is hereby accordingly recommended, to all the " Counties in this Colony, (who have not already done "it,) to appoint County Committees, and also Suh- " committees for their respective Townships, Pre- " cincts, and Districts, without delay, in order to carry " into execution …

" in those Counties or Districts wlio have not appoint- " ed Coniuiitteos, as shall be ajipointcd by the uieui- " here of tliis Congress representing such Counties and " Districts res|)ectively, ' do malce sucii tender as afore- "said in sucli C^ounties and Districts respectively; "and that the said Committees and persons respeclively do return the said Asxoruilioa and the …

'• You will see by the enclosed Resolution of '■ this Congress, that it is recommended to such of " the Counties as have not already formed Commit- " tees, to do it witliout delay, and that.>iich of tlie In- " habitants of this Colony as have hitherto neglected " to subscribe the General Association, do it, so as to " enable you to make a return within the time limited " in …

The Resolution and letter which were thus reported to the Provincial Congress, were taken up, for consideration, on the twenty-ninth of May; and, after some amendments had been made therein, they were " approved, agreed to, and resolved ; " and five hundred copies were ordered to be j)rinted ; and as many copies of the letter as should be necessary were ordered to be signed by …

ment ; and there is very little evidence, as far as wc have been able to fiiul any, which indicates that the several Towns throughout the County paid any attention to the recommendation of the Congress, lor the ap[)ointinent of Town-committees; ' and there is no evidence whatever, that any attempt was made, in any of those Towns, to obtain the signatures of the body of the …

The Committee of the Provincial Congress who had been ajipoiiited to consider the very important subject of the Currency, for the support of the Rebellion, made a very clear and able Report, on the thirtieth of May, in which some of the commercial troubles produced or likely to be produced by the Rebellion were very graphically presented; and an issue * There were Ooniniitteos …

The tiles of that Congress, which are preserved in the otlico of the Secretary of State, at Albany, show, however, that the only Counties or Towns which made any Returns of .Vssociatore, in response to this Ue.^olution, were Orange, l ister, Suffolk, Duchess, one District in Charlotte, three Districts in Cumberland, and a few .scattering names, not more than fifty, in yneens …

" See the general Cin-nlar Letter of the Congress, on this page, ante. The same declamtioii, more distinctly nttereil, may !«• s<H-n in the l^-Uer of thr l*ruvi»ri'il Cnwjrriw t<> ChriMn^thrr Ynh-ii mnt Mtijnr Yf lli^ Foiw/'i, of Trifm-vmnlii ; in thnt fr*>m thf mint*' In O'lnm l Jtitii*'M Iti^jt-r^, nl Kvnt, ill Citmherhintl-raunty ; and ill thnt fmm l/w lutrnf to ./(i#-o/i …

One week after that body had been oi iginally organized, [jl/'f// -50, 1775] Benjamin Kissam, of the City of New York, " moved in tiie words following, " to wit : ' Forasmuch as a reconciliation between " Great Britain and these Colonies, on constitutional " principles, is essential to the well-being of both " countries, and will prevent the horrors of a Civil " War, in which …

A (piestion of such great importance and so distasteful to many of tlie Deputies, was reasonably discussed with much warmth ; and it is very evident that, had the vote been taken, at that time, the motion would have been ado[)ted by the Provincial Congress. It was evidently approved liy a majority of the Counties ; but, if the vote could be posti)oned, changes might be …

period of the existence of that Congress, to secure that advantage and, thereby, if |)()ssible, to defeat the motion -- "at the request of the Deputies of the City " and County of Albany and the Counties of " Ulster, Sufiblk, and Charlotte," it was " ORr)ERED, " That the same be deferred." * Although the Rule reipiired the Congress to resume the consideration of the motion on …

The revolutionary faction, led by John Morin Scott and Alexander JIcDougal, resolutely opposed the motion ; and the last-named, seconded by Abraham Brasher, moved (or the jjrevious (juestion, in order to defeat it; but only Ulster, Orange, Suffolk, and Duchess-counties favored the motion for the previous question ; and it was defeated -- Philip Van Cortlandt, differing from …

That, although " we would, by no means, presume to dictate to the " General Continental Ccmgress, yet it is highly nec- " essary that this House be pre|)ared to give our sen- " timents to our Delegates, in the said Congress,upon " such plan of accommodation." With the a])- j)ointinent of John Morin Scott, Isaac Low, Alexander McDougal, Benjamin Kissam, and Thomas Smitii, of …

McDougal, Hobart, Woodhull, Paine, and Tredwell, were undoubtedly opposed to the entire movement -- for a Committee, with instructions to " make rejwrt with all convenient speed,'' the subject rested, temporarily.' It was not until the twenty-second of June, that the Committee was ready to report to the Provincial Congress the result of its deliberations on the subject which …

" Ordkred, That the same be taken into consider- " ation on Saturday morning next ; that the mem- " hers of each County have leave to take one copy " thereof, each copy to be numbered by one of the " Secretaries, who shall take a memorandum of the " name of the member who shall take with him such " copy and the number of the copy by him taken, " that all such copies may, on …

On the following Saturday [Jm/ic 24, 1775,] the Provincial Congress proceeded to consider the Report, agreeable to its Order made on the preceding Thursday ; and, after the Report had been read and re-read, debated and amended, during the greater portion of that day and a portion of the following Tuesday, the proposed " Plan of Accommodation " with Great Britain," thus …

"dated the twentieth day of October, 1774, and all the "Statutes of the British Parliament, passed since that " day, restraining the Trade and Fishery of Colonies "on this Continent, ought to be repealed. " That from the necessity of the case, Britain ought "to regulate the Trade of the whole Empire, for the "general benefit of the whole, and not for the sep- " arate interest …

" That if objections be made that a resort to a " variety of Colony Legislatures, for general aids, is " inconvenient, and that large, unappropriated Grants "to the Crown, from America, would endanger the " Liberty of the Empire, then the Colonies are ready "and willing to assent to a Continental Congress, "deputed from the several Colonies, to meet with a "President appointed …

" That the Colonies, respectively, are entitled to a "free and exclusive power of legislation, within " themselves, respectively, in all cases of internal "polity, whatsoever, subject only to the negative of " their Sovereign, in such manner as has been, hercr " tofore, accustomed. "Resolved: That no one Article of the afore- " going Report be considered preliminary to …

The principles on which that Plan was constructed and the methods which were proposed for the execution of its provisions were so radically subversive of all the purposes for which Colonies were established and protected ; so .singularly presumptuous in claiming all the privileges and benefits enjoyed by Englishmen without assuming any of the burdens under which Englishmen …

Such a Plan, had it been submitted to the Home Government and to the Parliament, would, un(]ue8tionably, have aggravated instead of conciliated, and have widened the breach which then separated the Colonies and the Mother Country, instead of closing it. It is serviceable, however, to the cai'eful student of the history of that j>eriod, to indicate how mujch the Rebellion had …

were their honor and their patriotism, and at what price the Home Government could purchase their adherence and their "patriotism" and their sympathy with their compatriots, whenever that Home Government should incline to enter the market of " patriot- " ism," for such a purpose. At a very early period, the security of the pass at Kingsbridge appears to have attracted the …

The j)ublished Proaedimjs of the Committee of (hie hundred, iu the City of New York, make no mention of the doings of that Committee ; and it is not probable that it accomplished anything, in the way of fortify-ing Kingsbridge ; but, on the twenty-fifth of May, the Continental Congress agi-eed to the following Resolutions, " respecting New York," one of which relates to the …

" 2. -- Resolved, that a Post be also taken in the " Highlands, on each side of Hudson's River, and Bat- " teries erected in such manner as will most effectual- " ly prevent any Vessels passing, that may be sent to " harass the Inhabitants on the borders of said River ; " and that experienced persons be immediately sent " to examine said River, in order to discover where it " …

"4."-- [Resoi.vkd.] "That it be left to the Provincial "Congress of New-York to determino the number of "men sufticient to occupy the several Posts ahove- " mentioned, and also that already recommended to be " taken at or near Lake George, a.s well as to guard the " City, I'roriiltil, the whole do not exceed the number " of three thousand men, to be commanded by such " …

On the following day, [May 26, 1775,] the Continental Congress further " Reholved, That it be recom- " mended to the Congrojis aforesiiid, to persevere the " more vigorously iu preparing for their defence, as it " is very uncertain whether the earnest endeavours of " this Congress to accommodate the unhappy diJierences " between Great Britain and the Colonies, by concilia- " …

Scott, of the City of New-York, they were taken into coasideration -- that portion of them which directed the fortifying of Kiugsbridge, w;ls referred to Captain Richard Montgoniery, of Ducheas-county, llenry Glenn' and Robert Yates, of AJbany-county, and Colj quel .lames Van Cortlandt aud Colonel James I Holmes, of Weslchest^r-county, with orders " to view ' " the ground at …

Both theiie Resolutions were initiatory of prolonged and not always harmonious and agreeable proceedings, both without and within the Provincial Congress and both without and within the Congre.ss of the Continent, all of which can be considered with greater propriety iu the local publications concerning the Towns of Kingsbridge aud Cortlandt and in the general publications …

On the thirty -lirst of May, in its liirther consideration of the Resolutions of the Continental Congress, which have been already laid before the reader, the Provincial Congress resolved, " that it be recommended " to the Inhabitants of this Colony, in general, im- " mediately to furnish themselves with necessary arms "and ammunitions; to use all diligence to perfect …

" embodying men according to tiie said Resolutions ; " and by appointing a Committee " to report an ar- " rangement of the troops to be embodied for the " (iofence of this Colony ; and to report such Rules " and Re(j\ilat\onx as would be proper to be established "by this Congress, for the government of su(;h " troops." ' The doings of the Provincial Congress were, of course …

There were, of course, plenty of applications from those of the well-born, among the revolutionary faction and from among those who had been instrumental in bringing the Livingstons and the Morrises and others into authority, for each of the offices, in each of the four Regiments into which the levy on New York was arranged ; but there was an evident backwardness, among the …

soldier of the former War, was its Colonel;' and Philip Van Cortlandt, of Cortlandt Manor, who held, also, a Royal Commission of Major in the Colonial Militia, was its Lieutenant-colonel ;* Barnabas Tuthill, of Southold, Suffolk county, was its ]\Lijor ; Benjamin Chapman was its Quarter-master ; and Ebenezer Haviland was its Surgeon.'' Of the ten Companies of which the …

He went with his Heginient to the northern frontier, and occupied Ticonderoga, very much to his disgust ; quarrelled with General Schuyler, who commanded in that Department ; declined to continue in the service, after tlio term of the enlistment of his command had expired; became a Loyalist; took the Lieutenant-colonelcy of the Corps of the Westchester-county Refugees …

He was a Surveyor and a Country Merchant and Miller ; a Major in the AVestchester-county Militia, under Covernor Tryon ; and a member of the Provincial Congress by whom he was made Lieutenant-colonel of this Regiment. He continued in the military service, until the close of the War of the Revolution ; after which he was one of the (Joniniissioners of J'orfeitures ; represented …

Piatt's grand-Uncle. lie was elected a Delegate to the Provincial Convention called to elect Deputies to the Continental Congress of 1774 ; he was a member of the first County Committee of Westchestercounty, in 177.') ; and a member of the fourth Provincial Congress, or, as it was called after a while, the Provincial Convention-- that which de- "clared the Independence of New …

' Captain Daniel Mills continued in the service, after the Regiment was disbanded, at the close of the year, serving as a Captain in Colonel Van Scliaick'8 Regiment of the New York Line, in the Continental Army. 'Elijah Hunter was originally named for Second Lieutenant, with Samuel Haight, subsequently Sheriff of the County, us First Lieutenant. He was a member of the County …

The following paper, with the names of the men enlisted into this Company, is taken from the original manuscript, among the Higtorical Mditmcriplfi relating to the War of the Itevolution : MiVUarij Ifelunts, xxvii., •266 ; and will be interesting to tliose who have descended from the older families of Bedford : " BEAilroRn, July 2!lth, 1775. ".1 lietnrn of the Men inlutted bif …

< There is some reason for supposing that Ambrose Horton wiis imported from Southold, in Suffolk-county, to take the command of a Company in this Regiment ; but, wherever he may have originated, he euliste<I "fifty-si.x able bodyed men" for the Company; and reported them to the Provincial Congre3.s, from the White Plains, on the twentysixth of July, 1775, {HiMorical …

A considerable number of the latter classes, with no other claim to distinction than their physical ability to work or to fight and their good intentions, was j)robably taken from the yeomaury of Westchester-county ; and, notwithstanding they were mostly detained at Ticonderoga, without having been permitted to join General Montgomery, before Quebec, as he particularly desired …

It will be remembered that the Continental Congress, among the Resolutions relating to the Colony of New York, which it adopted on the twenty-fifth and twenty-si. \th of May, " included a requisition " that the Militia of New- York be armed and trained "and in constant readiness to act at a moment's "warning," etc.; and that those Resolutions were duly transmitted to the …

Lieutenant Palmer was promoted to the command of a Company ; and, on the same day, Isaac Van Waert was apjiointed to the vacant Second Lieutenancy. 'Captain David Palmer, Lieutenant Samuel T. Pell, and Lieutenant Isiuic Van Waert are particularly noticed as having served in Canada, in 1776, [Historical Manuscripts, etc.: Military Committee's Papern, xxv., TM ; the same …

mouth, with a verj- important change, which permitted those who were not resident* of the Districts or Beats to take and to hold offices therein, that Report was included in an elaborate " AJi/ifia Bill." which provided tiiat every portion of the Colony should be divided into ''Districts or Beats,' in such manner that each of those Districts should include, as nearly as …

There does not appear to have been much discontent, in any part of the Colony, because of the passage of that Ordinance or Act for the re-organization of the Militia ; but it atlbrded opjiortunities, in various places, for displays of that coiitenipi for the unfranchised and lowly masses, which those of higher social and political rank, even those who were ostentatiously …

The enrolled members of the Company, in whom the right of election rested, preferred one of their own number, John Cock, for their Captain ; and when the Poll was closed, it wiis found that the aristocratic aspirant had received only eleven votes, while his plebeian ojiponent had received forty-eight, and one had been given to William Betts.^ The defeated aspirant subsequently …

I of the Company, and had received only twelve of the sixty votes which were cast for that office;* and, of course, the Committee of Safety of the County transmittecl the affidavit to the Provincial Coni gress, promising to supplement what w;us then i sent with evidence that Cock had "spoken very dis- I "respectfully of the Congress;"' and invitingthat body ! to withhold the …

"carried the sanie to one, .lohn Cock, of the Vonkei's, in said County, I "and asked the said John Cock to sign the siinie ; he, the said .lohn "Cork taking the jien in his hand uttered the following words: ' I sign "'this with my hand, but not with my heart, for I would not have " ' signed it li.id it iKit been for my wife and family's sake : ' and this he "several times …

j The Petition thus presented has been preserved ; and the following I has been copied from it-- Ki«torieoi Manuscriptt, etc., PetHionf, xxxi., 101. 1 "To THE Hovb'' The Pbovi.kciai, Conobess or the Province of Sew I "York in the Cm or New York CoxveniI -- Ob in their Reces.«, I " To THE HoxciM' The Committee or Saftet. ' "The Honorable Petition of the Inhabitants of the …

I "And whereas we are informed that a Complaint hath been made to " the Commitee by a few of the Inhabitants against the said Mr. John "Cock out of Spite and Malice and as we conceive what has been aleg* "against him was before the .'Signing the Association, we are well " assured that Since his Signing the said .\s80ciation no person Can ac " cuse him of breaking the same by …

The result was probably foreseen by the Petitioners and their successful candidate -- why should the carefully expressed will of filty-uine respectable men, declared in conformity with the published terms of the Congress itself, be permitted to stand in the way of a Van Cortlandt, the latter with nothing else than two e.r-parfe Affidavits to sustain the evidently ridiculous …

' Miiitin I'ost. Jacob Post, ' .liiiues Muiiio, Henry Brown, ' AiitliJ Alliuie, Henrey Taylor, ' Kilwani U.vor, Authoney Archer, ' li(Mijauiin Farrington, Basal Archer, * William Uose, Thomas Oakley, ' Hour} pri'slier. Jonathan Fowler, * Thouius Furington, his Abm X I'ost, ' Jnniea Kii h, mark " Gilbert Brown, hid liig Dennis X Poet, 'Tlionios X Tii>pit, murk mark, his " …